Wendell E. Bingham Jr

In loving memory of Wendell E. Bingham Jr., age 59, of Chico passed away at his home on Nov. 12, 2012. Wendell, also known to his family and friends as "Winter", was born on May 30, 1953 in San

Francisco,

California and was the eldest of four sons born to Wendell E. Bingham Sr. and Nedra A. Bingham (Paulson).

Winter had a spiritual connection to nature and the wild Sierra Nevada that influenced most everything he did in life. He was an accomplished and passionate musician and loved to write poems and put lyrics to his music, always inspired by his connection to nature. Winter began playing the saxophone in the third grade and by the time he was in high school he had mastered not only the saxophone but the guitar, flute and piano as well. Winter lived and worked in Yosemite National Park for many years entertaining the endless numbers of tourists with his poems and music. He knew and loved the Yosemite wilderness and was happiest when playing his flute or guitar high on a granite mountain top or deep in a coniferous forest of the Sierra Nevada. He had an incredible talent for using his poems and music to create moving and inspirational images of the wild mountains, forests, rivers and wildlife in the minds and hearts of his audiences. Winter was also an experienced mountain man known, and often envied by others, for his ability to coax a prize-sized trout into his creel from a mountain stream or lake assumed to be void of fish by all other fishermen.

Wendell Jr. is survived by his three sons: Joshua Sean Bingham of Stockton, Forest Bodie Bingham and Tuolumne Brook Bingham, both of Chico; his mother Nedra Bingham of Stockton; his brothers: Bruce Bingham of Evergreen,

Colorado, Mark Bingham of

Sherwood, Oregon, Randy

Bingham of Lodi, Michael Bingham of Guerneville; and sister Terry Bingham of Sacramento.

Wendell's connection to nature truly inspired his life and how he saw himself, and he would like us to remember him as Winter Bingham. Winter is so loved by his family and his friends and will truly be missed, but we will always be reminded of Winter through his legacy of beautiful poetry and music spiritually inspired by his love of nature. Winter will always be remembered for his kind heart, beautiful loving smile, and for how he touched so many lives with the hundreds of poems and songs he gave us over more than 40 years.